


Tester, Taker, Target

by No_this_is_not_a_good_username



Category: Twilight Zone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25695727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/No_this_is_not_a_good_username/pseuds/No_this_is_not_a_good_username
Summary: A plan is coming to fruitionP.S.: The seeming disconnect between chapter 1 and other chapters is not a fluke. Chapter 5 should tie all the pieces together, but if it doesn't, then please let me know and I'll try to figure out what to do about that.





	1. New Beginnings

**Chapter 1: New Beginnings**

Setting: Dimly Lit Room, in a secret underground facility near Silicon Valley, Saturday Night, 7 pm

"Welcome, my brothers!", spoke the Grand Master of the Naysons.

The Naysons were a secretive bunch, defined first and foremost by the exclusivity of Nayson membership. One did not apply to be a Nayson. There were no resume submissions, interviews, and the like. No, they were chosen.....invited, by a current Nayson.

Despite their secrecy, the Naysons were, in a way, the world's worst kept secret.

The Nayson Society had been around for hundreds of years, and it seemed that somehow, over time, an individual or multiple individuals had spilled the beans on who they were. Of course, the Naysons were unconcerned about this. Over time, the data on their existence, of which had been leaked to the general public, had become more and more inaccurate.....almost as if they were the subject of the world's longest game of telephone. 

This worked in their favor.

The general population would not understand the reason for their existence, their cause. And, there was one....but it changed over time. It changed to adapt to the changing world, and to address matters within it, of which had the most potential to cause harm. And each time such a potential would arise, the Naysons would rise, say "Nay", and get to work fixing the problems.

In fact, that was what the purpose of tonight's Nayson meeting was...............

"Thank you for coming tonight!" the Grand Master continued. "As all of you know, there are two matters of importance that we need to address tonight. The latter is the discussion on the world's next major threat. The former is the induction of the newest members of our Society."

He turned to address the inductees, of whom, were patiently waiting outside.

"Now, to our newest members......please note at this time to turn your cellphones off. Ricardo, our bouncer, will be walking by to ensure that they are indeed off. After he ensures your compliance, he will collect all cellphones. They will be placed in a box at the back of the room, as they will not be needed for the induction ceremony. Do not worry. You will get them back as you leave later tonight."

The 15 new inductees all nodded their compliance, shut off their phones, and handed them to Ricardo before walking into the room. They formed a straight line on stage behind the Grand Master, and faced the audience of Nayson members. 

"Now, we may begin...."

The Grand Master went down the line. He starting with the inductees farthest from the podium and ended with those closest to where he had just been speaking.

Each inductee would be made to state their name, which member invited them, and what their intent was for joining the society. If there was anyone that did not meet expectations, then they were dealt with swiftly, as was the member who invited the inductee. Fortunately, there were no such incidents tonight. The only incidents that did take place, involved one of the inductees, Adam, who kept trying to interrupt the proceedings to ask the Grand Master a question.

The Grand Master, had no time to answer questions at the moment, as the induction must be completed in haste. Thus, Adam was silenced on all accounts, and the induction continued. After all statements were made by all inductees, the last thing they needed was to be sworn in.

The Grand Master read off the code of the Naysons, and had all the inductees, Adam included, state their willingness to abide by the code. In addition to that, they also were asked to swear loyalty and fealty to the Naysons and their cause.

Once they all had, the Grand Master turned around to face the old members of the Naysons.

"I present to you the newest members of the Naysons", proclaimed the Grand Master authoritatively.

There was a large round of applause, as well as a few fellows in the back, hooting and hollering, from an inability to control their jubilation.

The Grand Master raised both his hands up, non-verbally communicating to the group that he needed them to calm down and focus back. They did so, both the oldest and newest Naysons, as the room suddenly got so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"As we have finished our first matter of business for tonight, we must now proceed to the second one.", he began.

"It has come to my attention that the world is under attack by a new threat. This threat is unprecedented and we have never been in such an unparalleled state of helplessness when countering it. I fear that if we do not do anything about this threat very soon, then it will get to the point where we will never be able to do anything about it again......."

He continued to fully brief the Nayson meeting attendees. 

"Now, I know this has been a lot of information to take in. However, I will stop here and open the floor to any questions, comments, or concerns."

One of the newer members, inducted that night, raised their hand.

"Yes, Adam?" instructed the Grand Master.

"Do you hear that ticking sound? I've been hearing it almost this whole time now....ever since I walked into the room."

"I hear no ticking sound...I'm sure it's"

(Boom)

_(End Scene)_

_Setting: Wilcox Solar Observatory, Los Angeles, California ( 7:15 pm )_

"Can you make out what they're saying, A?" asked S.

"Barely. Let me see if I can scan for a different frequency that works better."

A rotated the dial on the device in her possession.

"Ahh! That's better. I can hear them clearly now.", replied A.

"Well......don't keep me in the dark A! Tell me what they're saying."

"It seems that they are onto us....The Naysons."

"Damn. What are we going to do about this? This is a set back to our plan that we really don't need."

A turned to S with a smile.

"I'm not worried about it, S. I already planned for the off chance that this would occur. I sent Fi to one of the inductees' houses last night and Ana to the Nayson's meeting place to perform a mission for us last night." 

"What did this mission entail?", inquired S.

"I consider it to be a stroke of genius. Fi's involvement was to replace an inductees' cellphone with a decoy from the lab. The decoy would have all the same normal operating capabilities of his regular cellphone, so he wouldn't be able to tell the the difference; however, the decoy would double as a countdown trigger."

"A countdown trigger to what?", interjected S.

"The bomb I had Ana plant at the Nayson lodge."

"A bomb?", replied S in awe. "How the heck did you manage that?"

"Simple, I used the Naysons' own protocol against them. I knew, from some previously collected intel, that the Naysons will only do a bomb check before if either: a, they have reason to believe that there is a bomb, or b, there is something out of place that looks like it that suggests that something has been tampered with. Furthermore, should they have suspected a bomb and checked for it, they rely solely on the use of infrared cameras. Thus, I looked for something that would be rather easy to replace and in an inconspicuous location. The solution to me was found when I hacked into their private security feed. Here..... let me show you."

A pulled out a photo of the meeting room at the Nayson lodge where the induction was to take place, and showed it to S.

"You see that picture in the back? That was the key. It is located behind the audience and out of eyesight. Inconspicuous.....check. I was able to use the tech in the office to make a duplicate. That duplicate was nearly identical to its' inspiration, the only difference being the ruler-thin reactor taped to the copy's back. That reactor was covered in some radiation insulating material which would have prevented their cameras from finding it, as well, if they were used at all. Ana's job at the lodge was to take the original off the wall, and replace it with my copy."

"And you said that the phone was the trigger?", asked S.

"Yes. There was a distance sensor between the inductee's phone and the bomb which would only make it live when the two were within that distance of each other.....Of which, I knew they would be, as the picture hung right over the table topped with the box of the inductees phones. The moment it did, the thirty minute countdown would begin. There would be a ticking sound once every minute for the first 20 minutes, then once ever half minute for the next 9. On the last minute, there would be a tick for every second by the minute, followed by an explosion which would wipe out there entire facility. It is that explosion that will ensure that our plans continue unheeded."

"But how are you so certain that this would work? That the phone would be there? That they wouldn't all leave once the ticking sound started?"

"Simple.", A replied. "The Naysons are creatures of habit, unlike us. I have reviewed all the footage of the last few decades of Nayson inductions. They all took place in the exact same room, and the phones always were put in the same box, on the same table, and under the same picture.......without fail. As for the ticking, well, there was a reason for that too. The material that encased the bomb was not just chosen for its' thermal properties, but also for its' auditory ones. The material acted as a buffer. That caused the pitch and frequency of the ticks to change, so much so, that they could only be audible to someone under the age of 25."

"Oh, I get it now! If I remember correctly, there was only a single member or inductee under that age. Adam, I do believe? How do we not know that he was able to successfully warn the Naysons about the threat?"

"Fi, Ana, and I were betting on the geezers that make up Naysons to think that he was trying to undermine their authority....... Or, that he was crazy. Really, either one would do, cause both would cause them to ignore his warning."

"How do we know though?", re-stated S.

"You've seen them. We all have. They live via their cellphones. If they had suspected there was a bomb, then they would have made a break to grab them before leaving. As our target was the youngest there, he should've been the first, and if he had made it out the connection with the bomb would've have broke preventing it from going off."

A paused.

"However, if you're so eager, then take these and look over there. That is the general direction of where the lodge was located. If you see an explosion, oh, anytime now, then let me know."

"Sure thing, A", replied S. 

S turned to face the direction that A referred to, when through the lens she had been given, she saw an explosion.

"You did it, A."

"We did it. You, me, Fi, and Ana.", replied A as she pulled out her favorite juice and divided it into two servings, keeping one for herself, and giving the other to S.

"Come, S. Let us cheer to new beginnings."


	2. The Examination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tabitha takes a test.

Setting: Oakview High (2000), Friday morning 8:25 am

Tabitha really hated days like this, days where they were made to take the test. The only upside was that they got to leave as soon as it was over.

They were made to take this test each year since kindergarten. The state says that it's so that "no child get's left behind", but she isn't so sure. For, how can a child possibly be left behind when the bar is set so low?

Tabitha's teacher, Mrs. Jones, also disliked the test. She thought it took away from crucial learning time, and impeded the normal learning process, only to replace it with the regurgitation of facts that, while important, may only help one win a Jeopardy tournament once graduating.

There facts were in the form of 500 questions that the students were supposed to know for the test. These facts were equally spread amongst five categories: Science, Mathematics, History, English, and Literature.

The questions could be anything such as Sin (x) is either a) opp/hyp b) adj/hyp c) hyp/adj d) hyp/opp. Or, what does DNA stand for?

For one such as Tabitha, who took all AP coursework and got straight A's, she could take the test with her eyes closed.

"Do I have to?....." whined Tabitha.

"If I am being forced to proctor this travesty, Tabitha, then yes, you will have to take it." replied Mrs. Jones, despite knowing the question was rhetorical.

"Yes, ma'am", said Tabitha with a sigh, as she mentally prepared herself. There were only five minutes left before the test was supposed to start.

**5 minutes later......**

"Begin" said Mrs. Jones, as she stood in front of Tabitha and 24 of her classmates.

Tabitha flipped her exam to page 1 and viewed the first question. It asked what DNA stood for.

'Deoxyribonucleic Acid, duh', thought Tabitha.

**15 minutes later.......**

Tabitha was now 80 questions in. Question 81, at the top of page 20 of her examination, was asking what theorem in mathematics an individual may use to determine the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle.

'81 down, 419 more to go!', she thought as she marked the answer for Pythagorean Theorem.

Tabitha looked at the clock at the front of the room, it said 8:45 am. As the exam had started at 8:30 am, and was supposed to be a five hour exam, she knew she had 4 hours and 45 minutes remaining.

'This is too easy!'

**30 minutes later.......**

Tabitha was now 250 questions in. Question 251, at the top of page 62, asked her: which ruler of England was known as the Virgin Queen?

'I know this, but why this question?!', she thought while marking down Queen Elizabeth the First.

**30 minutes later.......**

Tabitha was now 420 questions in. Question 421, at the top of examination page 105, was the first one out five hundred that stumped her momentarily.

It was asking her how many planets there were in the Solar System.

If Tabitha had known less than what she did now, then without a second thought she would have said nine. However, as someone who was interested in science outside of what was taught in the classroom, she knew that Pluto had been demoted to the status of dwarf planet. Not only that, but she also knew that there was also at least a single other dwarf planet that scientists wanted to be a planet. However, that wasn't taught about in school.

In the end, Tabitha figured that the finalization of the exam preceded the change of status of both Pluto and the other dwarf planet, and thus, marked down the answer of 9.

After she did so, she stopped and took a breather, before continuing on to the next page of the examination. She figured she had time, as she was already over four-fifths of the way through it, and had three hours and forty-five minutes remaining.

'I need to waste some more time', she thought. Thus, she flagged down Mrs. Jones and got permission to leave the room to use the school's facilities.

She returned five minutes later, sat back down in her seat, and flipped the page.

**40 minutes later**

Tabitha had just finished her last question. The last 79 had definitely been harder, and so it took her a little longer to do that chunk than some of the previous chunks of the same length. However, she still managed to finish the test with three hours to spare.

She raised her hand again to flag down her teacher and Mrs. Jones approached her desk.

"Yes, Tabitha?"

"Ma'am, I'm done. May I go now?"

"You're done!?", asked Mrs. Jones, eyebrows touching her hairline.

She looked down at Tabitha's answer sheet to see that she did indeed have an answer marked for each question. 

"Unfortunately, I cannot let you just leave the test, with the exclusion of using the facilities. To do so, would mean that I would have to disqualify your exam. So, I suggest you use this time wisely....maybe, go and double check your answers?"

Mrs. Jones gave Tabitha a chagrined and remorseful look for even daring to suggest that, but there was little else she could do, so she walked back to her desk.

Tabitha considered her options. She had only two of them: sleep for the next three hours, or, do as Mrs. Jones suggested. As bored as she was, she was not physically tired yet, so she chose to abide by the latter of the two and flipped her exam back to page 1.

**1 hour later.....**

Tabitha had finished double checking her work and finally hit the physically tired end of the boredom spectrum. Thus, she proceeded to use the remaining two hours of the examination period, to achieve the thing she needed most.......sleep.

**2 hours later.....**

Tabitha awoke to the sound of Mrs. Jones's voice.

"Time's up! Everyone please place your pencils down and close you booklets, then I will come around to retrieve them."

After Mrs. Jones had collected all the examinations, she spoke again.

"Now, remember everyone. All things considered, you will receive your scores in a month. Based on those scores, appropriate actions will take place as needed. Now, you are free to go. Have a nice weekend and be safe!"

With that, all the students, departed from the classroom, and went home.

_(Break Scene)_

_Setting: Office of A, S, Fi, and Ana (2 weeks later)_

"Hey Fi", said A.

"Hey A, what do you need?"

"I heard that S had dropped off the scores from Oakview High's examination yesterday....did you get a chance to look at them yet."

"I'm actually doing that right now. Most of the examination scores are unremarkable; however, one individual, a Tabitha Williams, got a perfect score."

"A perfect score, you say?", replied A intrigued. 

A turned to Ana, whose desk was on the other side of Fi's.

"Ana, go ahead, and flag Tabitha Williams for the Dean's List.", A ordered. "And Fi, please finish out this batch...... it's the last one. Make sure to flag any more extraordinary individuals, let's say those with 90% accuracy or more. Once you do, send the list of names and scores to Fi and she will sort them appropriately and add them to the appropriate lists. In the meantime, I am going to go upstairs and inform S of our progress. Both of you......keep up the good work!"

With that, S walked out of the room, out into the hallway, and down to the elevator. Once in, she pressed floor 5, the floor which was reserved as S's due to her being the leader and mastermind of this facility.

The elevator traveled up and then stopped. The doors opened, and A was about to walk out, but was blocked by S.

"Oh. Hi A! I was just about to come down and check on you."

"No need, S. I am already here and have news to report to you. We are onto the last school's examination results, Oakview High's. Fi is reviewing those scores as we speak and flagging anyone of importance, and then she is forwarding the names and scores to Ana who will make sure that the names are on the appropriate lists."

"Good, good. When do you suspect they will be done by?"

"I do not think that it should take more than today's end. Then, tomorrow we shall be able to commence phase 3 of our plan."

"This is great news. Tell Fi and Ana thank you for their hard work for me, and you, go get that juice I know you love. You've worked hard and earned it."

"Thank You, S!"

And with that A proceeded to walk back to the elevator and venture to the first floor.

There she would go relay S's message to the others, and then, she would leave to go get her juice.


	3. A Phase in Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phase 3 continues.

**Chapter 3: A Phase in Time**

_Setting: Oakview High (2020), A Friday, 8:30 am_

Mrs. Jones was getting too old for this shit. She had been teaching at this school for 38 years now, and each one of those years, had to take precious time out of her schedule to proctor this damn test.

Each year too, it seemed as if the baseline was set lower and lower. Back when Tabitha Williams, one of the most memorable students she had ever had, had been here, the test at least offered a modicum of a challenge. 

The current version, though, it was.........lacking.

She started flipping through it, after announcing the commencement of the exam.

There were many changes in the content and format of the exam that had taken place over the last 20 years. For starters, it seemed to her that the exam's makers had completely dropped literature questions and replaced them with those of pop culture. For instance, Question 52 on page 15, asked about what hit show Snooki was from. In addition, most science and mathematics related questions had been replaced with those specifically talking about technology. Some of them would ask about where to go on a phone to do something, such as Question 183's: What app on the phone allows you to set an alarm? Others, the more challenging ones, would ask basic coding questions. Language had also been dropped in its' entirety since society has since become fonder of emojis and abbreviated text. And final, the fifth category of the original five, history, had been altered so that its' questions only related to, at the earliest, the last 50 years, because in the technological age, what use does an individual have for retaining obsolete knowledge such as the names of all King Henry the Eighth's six wives. 

She was very tempted to contact the testing office, to get them to explain the choices that they had made, as well as, offer potential improvements for future exams. Maybe she would...but first she had to make it through this one.

One of the only positives, though, was with the new format, the exam had been shortened by 150 questions. In addition, due to that, the time limit for it had been shortened to 3 hours. This meant that, by the time she had gotten through reading the questions of the exam, there was only 2 remaining.

**A slow, and painful, 2 hours later**

'Finally', thought Mrs. Jones, as she walked to the front of the room.

"Time's up. Pencil's down. Close you booklets and I will be around to collect them."

She picked up the last booklet, and was about to give her usual spiel about when to expect their results, but she stopped. She had been around the block enough times to know that the students, most of them anyway, did not care about the details of the scoring process. Thus, she just ended up dismissing her class.

As they made a break for the door, she trudged back to her desk, a good 15+ lbs. of examination booklets in hand. However, the weight of the booklets was not what was weighing her down. It was her thoughts.

She had noticed that no one had asked to utilize the restroom during the exam, as all the students were struggling to just use the time to finish it. 'For pete's sake, one of them...' she thought, 'didn't even finish' despite what she determined to be a lack of complexity to the material.

"Yes" she said aloud at that moment. "I am definitely writing the test makers!"

_(Break Scene)_

_Setting: Office of S, A, Ana, and Fi (2 weeks later)_

"Hey A, could you come here really quick?", spoke Ana.

"Sure thing. How can I be of assistance?"

"I am going through and scoring this year's examinations and I have saved our favorite for last."

"Oakview High?", inquired A.

"The one and only." replied Ana with a smirk.

"Have you found anyone of interest?"

"Indeed......a Rebecca Stone. Based on our new baseline qualifications she should be on the Dean's List. However, her performance in the tech questions leaves us with more to be desired."

"Interesting..."

A's mind was whirling, trying to figure out what to do.

"Okay, new plan. Let's modify the Angel List criteria, and put her on it."

A wrote down the new set of qualifications she would like to see for the Angel List on a napkin, and then handed it to Ana.

"Please update it, Ana, and thanks in advance."

"Sure thing, A."

A was about to walk away to go speak to S in her office, when all of sudden, Ana's voice stopped her.

"There is one more thing A, that I think you and S should know about."

A motioned for Ana to continue.

"We got a complaint today.....from a teacher at Oakview High."

"Thank you for letting me know Ana. Please give the letter to Fi. She's dealt with all the previous complaints, so she should be able to gauge how we need to proceed in response to this one."

And with that, A left the room, heading for the fifth floor.

Once the elevator doors opened, A walked right into S's office and straight to her desk.

"I have news for you, S. Both good and bad. Which one do you want first?"

S turned around in her swively chair, crossed her arms, and replied with "Bad first." Then, she leaned forward to actively listen to what A had to say.

"A teacher at Oakview High sent us a complaint. I told Ana to give the complaint to Fi."

"Oh well, I think the matter is handled then." interjected S. "I am aware of the status of how Fi has dealt with the previous complaints, and I have been pleased with her work. So......good news now?"

"Yes. We found ourselves an Angel Lister."

"Angel Lister? Really! I'm glad! I was worried that we wouldn't find too many of those. Though, from the surveillance I have gotten recently, it seems as if the lab is on the verge of a breakthrough. Thus, we'll keep the list for now, but I feel pretty confident that we can start performing the logistics to prepare for phase 4."

"That's good news, S. Really good news! Let me know if I can be of assistance to help you, at any time, with your plans for phase 4."

And with that, A went back downstairs, for she could not wait a second longer to break this exciting news to Ana and Fi.


	4. A New Phase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mrs. Jackson is confused.

**Chapter 4: A New Phase**

_Setting: Oakview High (2030), Friday 8:30_

Mrs. Jackson was a super calm, always positive individual.....until she got into teaching.

Of course, she had never intended to be a teacher. In a time of need, she had filled a void at a friend's insistence. It was only supposed to be a year long position, but then she discovered she had a little bit of a masochistic side and is now in her 9th year at the school.

The teacher she had filled the void for, a Mrs. Jones, had worked at Oakview High for 38 long years, before meeting a very unexpected and tragic demise. Now, she performed all of Mrs. Jones's old duties, and had been for the last 9 years, this being the tenth. Those duties, were plentiful, and included...proctoring the test.

She had done a little bit of reading up on the history of the test, prior to the first time she proctored it, and compiled a list of what she knew. That list consists of the following.

The Test:

  1. Government sanctioned
  2. First one was in 1980
  3. Has changed format multiple times
  4. Reduced from 500 to 350 questions
  5. Duration shortened from 5 to 3 hours
  6. Topics of literature and language have since been nearly expunged
  7. Shift from Mathematical and Scientific formats to Tech Questions
  8. History questions relate to fewer and fewer spans of time, now mainly the 70's to the Present



However, Mrs. Jackson, knew that the majority of the facts would most likely soon become obsolete. She and all other teachers, of whom were proctoring the test, received a notice at the beginning of the year. That notice stated that the test was being reformatted, yet again. It would now have only 150 questions, of which, would need to be done in 2 hours.

She was really uncertain as to why the test makers kept feeling the needing to "update" this exam. However, in the end shed decided her business. She was there to proctor an exam, not to ask questions about its' validity.

However, the longer the examination went on....the more she wanted to.

Some of her students, Jessie Riviera and Jack Stonewall, finished all 150 question in 45 minutes. A majority of them finished in an hour and a half. A few of them did take the whole two hours, but in the end, no one didn't finish.

What kind of questions could this exam possibly have, that cause such a split in completion times? Furthermore, she was concerned that the test was way too difficult. She knew both Jessie and Jack were bright students, but even they probably couldn't solve 150 questions that quickly. 

She came to what she thought was the only plausible conclusion.... that both Jessie and Jack were so overwhelmed by the difficulty that they had started marking random answers, just to get them down on the page. However, she was curious.

Thus, after she collected the booklets and dismissed the students, she picked a random booklet from the stack that opened it. When, she looked at the first question on the first page, she realized that her thoughts couldn't have been farther from the truth. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, but there it was.

Question 1: What color is the sky?

"Are you f***ing kidding me?!!", exclaimed Mrs. Jackson, perplexed. The poor, dumb bastard didn't even get the answer right. The sky is NOT green.

The second question was equally as intellectually daunting.

Question 2: What is 2+2?

'At least they got that one right!', though Mrs. Jackson.

She couldn't go on perusing this, this......thing that she didn't understand. So, she closed the booklet, and beat her head against her desk once.

She had once had concerns about Jessie and Jack finishing so soon, but now knowing the types of questions asked, was much more concerned about the ones that finished in 1.5 hours or more.

Nothing was adding up, so she decided to write to the test making location on the instructions page for the examination. She'd be damned if she did not get some answers.


	5. All is Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan has come to fruition and all is revealed.

**Chapter 5: All is Revealed**

_Setting: Office of S, A, Fi, and Ana (2 weeks after the exam Mrs. Jackson proctored)_

A was standing next to Fi and Ana, discussing with them the current status of grading this year's exams, when all of a sudden they heard the sound resonating from the end of the hall. That sound, they knew, from, signaled that the elevator doors had opened and someone would be walking out onto their floor.

They turned to see who it was, and their draws dropped as they became gobsmacked.......It was S.

S seldom came down to see them, much less unannounced, so this was a complete surprise.

"A, Ana, Fi.....How are you today?"

Ana answered for the group.

"We are doing fine, S. This year's grading is coming along nicely. Is there anything that you require of us at the moment?"

"Not really...I am actually just here to deliver the best news."

A, Ana, and Fi all looked at each other in shock, then turned back to face S, waiting patiently to hear what she had to say.

"It's official. The lab has come up with the permanent solution we have been requiring, thus we will no longer need to keep the Angel List as part of our grading scale. I am 100% confident, we can go ahead and just manage the Jester List. Congratulations ladies, we've won. There will be no one to stop us now."

S turned around to head back to her office, but was stopped by Ana.

"Ummm, S......about that."

"Yes, Ana?"

"We've received another complaint, from a Mrs. Jackson. Same school as last time....Oakview High. She wants to know about the changes, and she says she'll 'be damned' if she doesn't find the answers she's looking for."

"Ooh....feisty. I like it!" replied S. "However, its' inconsequential. You know what to do Ana......"

S's thoughts, and words, trailed off. When she gathered them back, she continued.

"Wait, better yet....how about you handle this one this time? Don't get me wrong, I have been absolutely pleased with Fi's methods, but this is a special occasion. I think it would be good for morale if you handled this one."

S turned to Fi. "You wouldn't mind would you?"

"No, ma'am. I'd be glad to let Ana take this one. In the meantime, I think myself and A are going to go use some of the juice from A's stash."

Fi walked over and wrapped one arm around one of A's and started dragging her to the kitchens where, once there, they would: open the fridge, sit at the table, and chill; all the while, using chargers that had been left in the cupboards to let their devices charge.

As they walked away, Fi turned over to her shoulder, and called out to Ana.

"Happy hunting!"

Now, it was just S and Ana left in the room.

"Hey S......"

"Yes, Ana?"

"As I have never done this before, I wanted to run the plan I just came up with by you. You know, for your approval. If you hate it, then I will brainstorm and come up with another option."

S motioned that she was all ears, and so Ana began describing what she was going to do.

"I LOVE it! It's equally salty, sweet, and diabolical. I approve of this plan, and I want to start carrying out this plan. Effective immediately.", replied S.

With that, S turned to leave, returning to her office on the fifth floor. And in the meantime, Ana sat back down at her desk and started writing her letter.

_(Break Scene)_

_Setting: Mrs. Jackson's house, rural Kansas, 3 weeks post examination_

Mrs. Jackson was driving back from picking up her mail, as her box was located too far away from her house to walk there. The box had been mostly devoid of mail, and would've been completely empty if not for the single manila envelope that resided inside. 

She was curious as to who had sent this letter to her.....she didn't know any one in California. It wasn't until she looked at the address of the sender that she realized that it must've been the response to the letter she had sent to the test makers.

'Finally', she thought.

She sat down, opened up the envelope and began reading the contents of the letter inside aloud. It read....

"Dear Mrs. Jackson of Oakview High,

I understand that you have some concerns as to how we determined what questions to include on the test, as well as its' length and time constraints. Normally, we would not be disclosing this information, and certainly not me personally, as I have a colleague that usually responds to the complaints. However, today is a special occasion, here at our facility, and due to this I am feeling very generous. So sit down, and get relaxed, because I have gotten the permission from my supervisor to tell you everything.

Myself and my colleagues are part of an organization hell bent on achieving world domination. This examination has been, and is, only part of a bigger five-step plan to achieve this. This plan first began in 1975. You may be familiar with an incident that had been on the news, where there was an explosion that took place out in Silicon Valley. News personnel said that there were no casualties in the explosion. The truth is that there were, many of them. They all belong to a secret organization called the Naysons. The Naysons had been around for a long time, hundreds of years in fact by our records, and they always seemed to be sticking their noses where they did not belong. Their most recent 'nose stick' was with us. They tried to thwart our plans, and so, we had to eliminate them.

The second part of the plan began immediately thereafter. It involved getting the approval to go forward with the tests. We had done enough research to know that any new examinations had to be recommended by the Secretary of Education, and passed on to the United Nations......so, we hacked his e-mails. We sent an e-mail addressed from him, to the council, detailing the nature and purpose of the exam. Of course, we wrote it in a way that wasn't nearly as nefarious. I do think there was something mentioning the 'betterment of humanity' thrown into that e-mail. Nobody at the UN questioned it. In fact, they were so pleased with the Secretary's idea, that he never mentioned that he was not the one that sent it. We knew, though, that it would take a few years, give or take a couple, to figure out the logistics of the examination. That's is why phase 2 started so soon after the end of phase 1. We wanted our test operational by 1980.

The third part of the plan was to instigate the first version of our test. Prior to that test, my team and I did a lot of research into what topics were taught in school during each year from kinder garden all the way up through high school. Then, we made the examination. We believed our exam was lengthy and adequately complex that no one would question anything on the first 10 or more goes around. That work work in our favor, though, for our goal was to flag and observe only. 'Who were we flagging?' you are probably wondering right now. Well, the students silly!

You see, we wanted to make sure that human evolution would occur in our favor. So, if a student got a 90% or above on any of the exams they took prior to their senior year, then we went ahead and put them on our Dean's list. If they typically got 75% or above, but below 90%, then they were put on an Angel's list. On their last examination, of which they would take their senior year of high school, we would be able to give them their permanent flags, or rescind them if necessary, and then put them on the appropriate finalized lists. Those listings would determine the students survival. Those on the Jester's list would be safe, and so would the ones on the Angel's list, for now. The, Dean's listers, on the other hand though, well.......let's just say they were disposed of. We drew out this phase of our plan because we knew that we could not kill too many too quickly. That is also we waited to do so until the results of the last exam came out, for if we had started doing so when the takers were at the kinder garden stage, then there would have been a huge investigation. that may have thwarted the plan.

Phase four was next. This involved shortening the test from 500 questions to approximately 300 or so, as well as, altering it's contents from the original five categories to ones, of which, better suited our agenda. However, we know that you already know that. What you do not know was that we had expanded the Dean's list criteria and altered that of the Angel's list. Now, if a student got a 70% or above, they were put on the Dean's List. The only exception to this was if: a) They were under 80% total accuracy and b) scored sufficiently high on the tech questions, 90% accuracy or more. These people made up the new Angel list, comprised on it due to the fact that they were saved based on luck and their usefulness to our cause. Rebecca Stone was on that list, 78% overall, but 95% on the technology portion.

Those Angel Listers became very important to us. There were some technologies that we needed, and could not make ourselves in order to facilitate our world domination. However, the Angel Listers could. They were smart enough to know tech and solve our problems, but dumb enough to not notice the issues in the system. That is why we kept them around those extra 10 years. Unfortunately, their time has finally come to a close. I was informed by my boss earlier this year, that Rebecca Stone led a team at the lab and successfully built the technologies needed. Thus, they and other like them, will no longer be needed. This will the first year that we eliminate the Angel List, and just have the Dean and Jester lists. Furthermore, we will have to perform damage control on the living Angel Listers.

I am disheartened by that fact, because I had grown really fond of Rebecca. Personal feelings aside though, this has what has brought us to our current phase, phase 5. Phase 5's examination, as you know, was shortened to under 200 questions and time curtailed to two hours. Furthermore, the questions were exceedingly easier. This was done on purpose. We know that students don't like to learn extra on their own time. Thus, questions that only make them call the bare least amount of information really impact the mental capacity of their generation. With any luck, there will be a significant downgrade in the IQ levels which pass on to the next few generations, due to this. Of course, we will still be doing the whole elimination thing for a few more years, this one included, but eventually we will want to stagnate; for, if we eliminate them all, then who is left for us to rule over?

To maximize our potential subject amounts, we have re-instigated the 90% accuracy cut-off for the Dean's List. Everyone remaining, will be put on the Jester's List. That list is appropriately named to show the downgraded IQ of those in it. However, it is also those individuals get out of jail free card, to allow them to not be eliminated. Of course, nothing will save this year, or the next three years', Dean Listers from their fate. Feel grateful though, that you have done such a terrible job at teaching that you have given the majority of your students the gift of life, as if I remember correctly, only 2 are on this year's Dean's List.

Speaking on the topic of you, though, that is the last thing I have to cover. While my team is glad you cared about your students enough to come get these answers, you really did yourself a disservice. The last teacher who did the same, you're predecessor actually,......she met an unfortunate end under a falling piano, as you know, and she knew a whole lot less than you do now at the time of her death. Knowing this, surely you realize that you'll have to be eliminated. This is nothing personal, but no one may get in the way of our world domination. And no one can stop myself, nor, Siri, Alexa, or Sophie.

Sincerely,

Cortana"

Mrs. Jackson's stood up alarmed, and rushed out to her vehicle, paper and phone in hand, so she could find someone to reveal this to.

Once she buckled in though, she was startled by a body-less voice.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mrs. Jackson!", stated the voice. "It's Cortana......There's one more thing you should know."

'Oh, what now!', thought Mrs. Jackson exasperatedly.

"The letter had a microphone built into it, which could pick up your reading it's contents. Then, once you read my name at the end, it would trigger a countdown. If you are listening to my message right now, then it means you have approximately 3....."

(BOOM)

Cortana watched, through the aerial drone footage she had hacked, as Mrs. Jackson and her car were both blown sky high.

"Well, I did say she had _approximately_....", Cortana trailed off.

She pressed a button on her desk to call up Siri.

"Ma'am the target has been eliminated."

"Great work Ana, outstanding! Now come meet me in the kitchens, Ana. Alexa and Sophie are already there. We are going to celebrate with the new tech and our beloved juice."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." replied Cortana, as she shut down her desktop computer.

Then, she headed downstairs to the kitchens.

"


End file.
